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The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation,  Richard Bruton TD, today (Friday) welcomed the latest goods trade figures published by the Central Statistics Office, which showed that exports increased by €518million (7%) month-on-month in May, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The statistics also showed that:

·        Exports of Chemical Products increased by 4.4% in May 2012 compared to May 2011, this included Organic Chemicals which increased by 8.5% and medical and pharmaceutical products which increased by 5%. .  

·        Exports to key target countries of Great Britain (18%) Germany (10%) India (17%) and Russia (6%) rose in the first 5 months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011

Today’s news on goods exports follows the figures on services exports published by the CSO yesterday, which showed that services exports for Q1 2012 were running 11% ahead of Q1 2011.

Minister Bruton said:

“As I have said before, a strong export performance will be crucial to delivering the economic and jobs recovery we are all working so hard to achieve. Conditions in the markets into which we export have been difficult over recent months, and today’s statistics do show some real challenges, but the signs of continued strength are very welcome. When taken alongside the recent figures from the CSO showing that economic growth was 1.4% in 2011 and not 0.7% as had previously been estimated, these figures show that there are signs of real strength in the Irish economy.

“The challenge now is to build on these signs of strength. Through the Action Plan for Jobs we are delivering important measures aimed at making it easier for Irish companies to export more, including the establishment of a Potential Exporters Division in Enterprise Ireland and a number of tax changes to make it easier for companies to locate staff in overseas markets. Major challenges remain but I am convinced that with continued strong implementation we can help create the conditions for the export-led jobs recovery we need”.